Georg Kükenthal (30 March 1864 in

Weißenfels Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle. History Perhaps the fir ...

– 20 October 1955 in Coburg) was a German

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

who specialized in the field of caricology. He was the brother of zoologist

Willy Kükenthal Willy Georg Kükenthal (August 4, 1861, Weißenfels – August 20, 1922, Berlin) was a German zoologist. He was the older brother of botanist and theologian Georg Kükenthal (1864–1955). Kükenthal specialized in the Octocorallia and on marin ...

(1861–1922). From 1882 to 1885 he studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

at the universities of

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

and

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

. He worked as a pastor in Grub am Forst, and later in Coburg. In 1913 he received an honorary degree from the University of Breslau. Kükenthal was a leading authority on

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

s. In his 1909 monograph, he divided the genus '' Carex'' into four

subgenera In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between ...

: ''Primocarex'', ''Vignea'', ''Indocarex'' and ''Eucarex''. ''Carex'' is the largest monophyletic (natural) genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

s; Kükenthal's monograph remains the only comprehensive, worldwide treatment.

Selected publications

* ''Cyperaceae-Caricoideae'', etc., in

Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families''), edited with ...

's '' Das Pflanzenreich'' (1909) – On

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

-Caricoideae. * ''Beiträge zur Flora von Coburg und Umgebung'' (1930) – Contributions to the flora of Coburg and surroundings. * ''Cyperaceae-Scirpoideae-Cypereae'', etc., in ''Das Pflanzenreich'' (1936) – On Cyperaceae-Scirpoideae-Cypereae.

References

Collectors of lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Germany
(biographical information)

by Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi· 5 May 2003 * Global Carex Group (2015
''Making Carex monophyletic (Cyperaceae, tribe Cariceae): a new broader circumscription.''
Bot J Linn Soc, 179: 1–42. doi:10.1111/boj.12298 19th-century German botanists 1864 births 1955 deaths University of Tübingen alumni People from Weißenfels University of Halle alumni 20th-century German botanists {{Germany-botanist-stub

Selected publications

See also

References